By Thomas Kariuki,
Bungoma Senator Moses Wetangula is embroiled in a legal tussle with Mr Danson Mungatana over a Sh12 million “friendly loan” that the Kenya Ports Authority chairman has failed to pay.
In a suit filed against Mr Mungatana, Mr Wetangula has said that he gave the loan on the strength of an oral agreement with the former MP and assistant minister. According to the documents, Mr Mungatana denies having received the money.
Mr Wetang’ula, who is also the Leader of the Minority in the Senate, has told the court that sometime in 2010, he gave Sh12 million being a friendly loan to Mr Mungatana who at the time had told him that he had a pressing issue.
“On receipt of the aforesaid friendly loan, the defendant gave the plaintiff his personal cheques which were to be banked on the due dates,” the Cord Senator says in the documents filed in court.
He claims that the cheques Mr Mungatana gave him were returned unpaid by the bank for lack of sufficient funds. According to him, Mr Mungatana promised to repay the sum using other means after the cheques were dishonoured.
REQUESTS FOR PAYMENT
The case had been slated for hearing Thursday but was put off on request of the judge and will now be heard on December 8 before Mr Justice David Onyancha.
“He has never responded to my requests for payment. He neither responded to my advocate’s letter nor fulfilled his promise,” he said.
On the other hand Mr Mungatana has claimed that if there were any money that he owed the Cord senator, he must have paid back in full and entered a final settlement.
He has also said that the suit was based on an illegal unenforceable contract which is against public policy.
“It is tainted with misrepresentation and mistake of fact, non-disclosure of material facts and is, therefore, incompetent and bad in law,” Mr Mungatana said in his reply to the accusations against him.
He has also said that the claim was based on mischief and aimed at soiling his name. According to him, at no time did he ever receive any money with his full or free consent.
The former Garsen MP similarly said that the cheques produced as support documents in the suit were the value of a principal sum given to the Senator and profit returns that were expected from a business deal they had executed together.
“The cheques were therefore to be held as security pending the maturity of the deal and were not intended to be presented to the bank for payment,” he said.
He has also accused the senator of running out of patience before their deal could mature